The continued evolution of wireless network technology allows consumers today to communicate with each other by voice, data and text messaging through highly sophisticated network architectures. A consumer can make a phone call, download data and send text messages using a single wireless communication device, such as a feature phone, smartphone, tablet, or Blackberry, etc. Typically, a consumer enters a network operator or third party retail store/storefront, selects a wireless device such as a smartphone, activates the smartphone, purchases a service plan from a network operator. For example, in order to activate the smartphone, a salesperson in the storefront may have to install an inactive SIM card into the smartphone, and then coordinate with the network operator to activate the SIM card in accordance with the parameters associated with the chosen service plan. All the while, the consumer is expending time, energy, and expense while the network operator is incurring overhead costs associated with providing the storefront and employing the sales force in order to provide the customer service required for the sales and activation of the smartphone. Subsequently, should the consumer allow his service plan to lapse and become inactivate, for whatever reason, and then decide to re-institute his/her service, this entire scenario must be repeated, incurring additional time and expense on the part of both the consumer and network operator. Thus, the conventional operator's system for managing usage, offers, pricing and policy is inflexible and cannot easily adapt to the consumers' needs.
Depending on technology, a wireless device may or may not require a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). Technologies such as IS95 CDMA and variants thereof do not require a SIM. Devices that use such standards consider the wireless service subscription to be associated with the device itself. Other wireless technologies, such as those based on GSM and UMTS, use a SIM. The SIM is inserted into the wireless device. The SIM contains the identity of the subscriber and other subscription related information. Therefore, the subscription and the device are separate. It is possible to move a SIM from one device to another and the subscription moves with it. Service usage is associated with the SIM. Therefore, it is possible to make a call with a given device and SIM, then move the SIM to a second device and make a second call. Both calls will be associated with the same subscriber and with the same phone number and will be billed to the same customer.
Initially, the SIM was a credit-card sized card that could easily be moved from device to device. However, for many years, SIMs have been much smaller (approx 1 cm×2 cm or less) and have been inserted in a wireless device in a manner that is not convenient to remove (e.g. behind the device battery). More recently, SIMs may take the form of a soldered-on chip that is not removable at all.
Moreover, recent developments have dictated that the subscription information or subscriber-specific information is not all stored on the SIM. For example, in GSM-based technologies such as UMTS and LTE, the use of data services must be associated with a subscribed service called an access point name (APN). A given user can use data services only if the user requests an APN that is stored against the subscriber's profile in the network. But the APN is not defined on the SIM. The APN is specified on the device. There are many other items of subscriber-specific data that reside on the device rather than the SIM, including for example, contact lists, email configurations, text message configurations and Virtual Private Network (VPN) settings.
Therefore, the SIM no longer contains all the subscription information to enable a user to access all provided services, and the SIM is no longer easily portable between devices. Effectively, the SIM and device are firmly linked and it is only the combination that fully identifies a subscriber and his/her subscribed services.
When a user wishes to change to a new device, it is necessary to transfer subscription information from the old device/SIM combination to the new device/SIM combination. In some cases today, the user will move the old SIM to the new device. In such a case, the device must be configured with non-SIM-stored subscription information (e.g. APN). In some other cases today, the user may be provided with a new SIM as well as a new device. In those cases, the network operator makes changes in the network to assign the new SIM to the subscriber (e.g. the subscriber phone number is assigned to the new SIM). Other personal information stored on the old SIM may be lost or must be manually transferred from one SIM to the other. In addition, the device must be configured correctly—e.g. with the appropriate APN.
It should be noted that, besides the purchase of a new device, there are many situations where a user may wish to use a different device with a given subscription, or use a given device with different subscriptions.
For example, if USER A has a device that is out of battery power, he may wish to borrow a device from USER B and easily configure USER B's device to provide the services subscribed by USER A.
There are cases where a given user may have different subscriptions and may want a single device to be configured to act in accordance with one subscription or another on demand. For example, imagine a business traveler that has wireless service subscriptions in different countries so that he can use one wireless service provider in one country and another wireless service provider in a second country, and avoid roaming charges. Today, such travelers typically have either two devices and two SIMs, or one device with two SIMs and will change the SIM in the device as needed.